For the record, I HATE what happened in Newtown. I was so shattered by the events of that day
that I wrote a letter to the ENTIRE teaching and administrative staff of my kids’
school to THANK them for caring for and loving my children. I cried for hours watching those beautiful,
innocent faces flash on the screens of every TV and computer I crossed that
day, and most days since. I HATE that a
sicko got ahold of those guns and did what he did. But, the fact remains, those guns were
obtained legally by someone OTHER than him.
As were the weapons used at Columbine and probably every other school
massacre in recent history. So, someone
with intent took weapons that were not their own and used them
incorrectly. Therefore, the fault needs
to be on the gun owners themselves, right?
ALL gun owners, right?
When I was young, the little boy across the street got into
his father’s gun closet and one of the guns fired. He was killed. I remember that night so vividly. I remember the lights from the emergency
vehicles flashing through our living room window and my parents shuttling me
away from the window before they brought the gurney out so I wouldn’t see. That father is to blame, right? He was careless, and someone, a child, died. That
father never went to prison yet he is being punished for the rest of his
life. I don’t remember there being debate on our
street, in our town or on the national news about how guns or the Constitutional
rights of gun owners should be taken away because this little boy died.
Even after that tragedy, my dad kept guns in our house. I never once touched them, before that
incident or after, without permission and education. They were always in a gun case, “safe” from
everyone. When, in all honesty they weren’t. When I was in college, criminals broke into our
locked home and into that locked gun case and stole all my dad’s
guns. They then proceeded to hold him at
gun point in our living room. Thankfully,
that day did not end in tragedy but the intent of those boys was to use those weapons in a crime that would end in tragedy. My dad
had military training, hunter safety training and a clean bill of health
(mental or otherwise). He would have
passed an across-the-board background check with flying colors. He was a responsible gun owner who kept his
guns locked up and his children educated.
Did that keep sickos with intent from using his weapons irresponsibly? No, it didn’t.
So, why then should my dad, a law-abiding, educated, safe, healthy
citizen have to undergo an arduous background check?
With school shootings, with the little boy across the street
and with my dad being held at gunpoint in our family home, you would think I
would be scared to be around guns, have them in my home and near my
children. But...I am trained to carry
concealed and I own my own gun. My
husband owns several guns. Our kids know
they are in the house and they know where they are. They have shot some of them. They also know about gun safety and we do
EVERYTHING we can to be responsible gun owners.
(And, to be honest, I bet the dad from across the street did the same
thing )
Yes, guns are powerful and deadly. Yes, they can kill quickly and en masse. But, taking them away,
regulating them out of existence, isn’t going to keep people from finding ways to get guns. And even if they can't, it won't stop them from finding other ways to do harm, create tragedy.
I am not a professional butcher, but I have knives, A LOT of
them, in my home sitting on the counter (eek) in a wooden block. I am not a hair dresser, but I have several
pairs of sharp scissors in unlocked (gasp) drawers in my home. I am not a chef but I have a pressure cooker in
my house, sitting on a shelf in my pantry (what gall!) and ball bearings and
nails in my garage (OMG!). Not to mention any
number of other “tools” that can be harmful to almost anyone, if used
incorrectly or with malice, sitting on shelves and in drawers in my house and
garage and barn. I also have a bar
stocked full of alcohol and a couple of vehicles in my garage. And you know what, I have never thought once
that I should take one of these items and use them to massacre someone. So, I guess if there were across-the-board
background checks I would probably “pass”.
I keep my house locked and my guns in a safe. So I, and everyone around me, is “safe”. Phew, that’s a relief! Ummm....tell that to my dad!
Where is the national debate, call to action, on owning knives? Scissors? Pressure cookers? Nails? Ball bearings? Rope? Matches? A motor vehicle?
The debate comes down to responsibility and the government
cannot MAKE people responsible. They can’t
make laws that keep the stupid from being stupid! You know if you have sex without protection,
you risk pregnancy and disease. However,
have you been careful 100% of the time you have had intercourse? And even if you had, will it keep you from
being raped? Seat belts and helmets save
lives….tell that to the little girl, who’s story I watched on Oprah, who had
her head decapitated because the seat belt sliced it off because the drunk
driver in the OTHER car hit her family’s car with such force. I guess it's time we should reconsider cars, seat belts
and alcohol nation-wide.
The tool/weapon of choice is not to blame. Therefore, should not be regulated out of
existence for the majority of the population.
The person, irresponsible, with intent and malice, is to blame. Timothy McVeigh; car bomb. Children dead. Jim Jones; Flavor Aid. Children dead. Osama bin Laden; Airplanes.
Children dead.
People die. Children
die. It’s a fact of life. It hurts because time is fleeting. It hurts when it is the innocent. But, it happens and has happened throughout
history. My uncle died, when he was 12 years old, from
a brain tumor. A friend of a friend lost
her toddler when the babysitter shook him to death, with her bare hands. Our neighbors lost a 4 year old cousin from
the flu. A girl at my niece’s high
school killed herself because she was raped and couldn’t deal with the torture
in her head. None of these were with
guns. Children die and it is TRAGIC
every time, in every way, no matter how it happens!
